Dipatching an action before mapStateToProps in React Redux - reactjs

I'm working on a userProfile container component in react which displays some data after fething it from a server.
This is the component:
import React from 'react';
import {connect} from 'react-redux';
import PersonalInformationView from './PersonalInformationView';
import * as selectors from '../../../reducers';
class PersonalInformationViewContainer extends React.Component{
constructor(props, context){
super(props, context);
}
render(){
return (
<PersonalInformationView userProfile={this.props.userProfile}/>
);
}
}
const mapStateToProps = (state, ownProps) => {
return {
user: selectors.getUser(state),
userProfile: selectors.getUserProfile(state)
};
};
const mapDispatchToProps = () =>{
return {
};
};
export default connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps)(PersonalInformationViewContainer);
The problem Im having is that I need to dipatch the action FETCH_USER_PROFILE_STARTED that calls a saga and brings the data. This needs to be done before calling the selector getUserProfile because Im getting an undefined as a result with the above code.
What is the best way to ensure I have finished fetching the data so the props.userProfile is not undefined in my component?

You can simply add
if (!this.props.userProfile)
return null;
at the beginning of your render method so that the component renders empty.
Or render a loading text or animation instead of null while waiting for the fetch.
Or don't render the component at all by putting the test higher in component hierarchy...
Technically, you could avoid calling the getUserProfile selector before the fetch starts but this would end up in an unnecessary complicated, ugly, unmaintainable and unreadable code... Why would you do that?
You actually want to call the selector and you want it to return undefined which is the simple truth...

Related

Does Redux update the React component it is connected to automatically?

I was under the impression that when my Redux store gets updated (via dispatching an action to the reducer), my Provider should make the new store available to all it's child components. So when I connect a container component to the store by using mapStateToProps(), that component should re-render when it receives the new props that go along with the store being updated, without the need for componentWillReceiveProps(). Am I wrong in thinking that?
After several hours of reading docs and other stack overflow answers, something just isn't clicking for me. I'm pretty sure my reducer is working correctly and is returning a new object, my components have access to the store, and my initial state is rendering just fine. If anyone could give me a better idea about the flow of things, I would be forever grateful.
Basically, I have a header component that imports the store, uses Provider and renders a "FAQ" component:
import React from 'react';
import FAQ from './Faq';
import {Provider} from "react-redux";
import store from '../store/index'
class Header extends React.Component {
render() {
return (
<Provider store = {store}>
<FAQ />
</Provider>
)
}
}
export default Header;
The "FAQ" component is a container that is connected to the store via mapStateToProps(), it imports the "FAQTest" component, which is a presentational component that will get passed this.state.thisFood as props so that it can render the data from the store. There is also an "addFood" function that dispatches my action, which can be seen in mapDispatchToProps() at the bottom.
import React from 'react';
import {connect} from 'react-redux';
import FAQTest from './faqTest';
class FAQ extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {
thisFood: props.breakfast
};
}
//adding this makes the component state update, but I think it should work without it
componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps){
this.setState({thisFood: nextProps.breakfast})
}
addFood = () => {
this.props.addFood();
}
render() {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<button onClick={this.addFood}> Add Food </button>
<FAQTest food = {this.state.thisFood} />
</React.Fragment>
)
}
}
const mapStateToProps = function(state) {
return {
breakfast: state.faq.breakfast
}
}
function mapDispatchToProps(dispatch) {
return {
addFood: () => dispatch({type: 'ADD_FOOD', food: 'Waffles'})
}
}
export default connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps)(FAQ);
When I click the "Add Food" button, my store gets updated, and the props of my FAQ container component get updated, because of mapStateToProps(). I thought this would trigger my FAQ component to update its state, however the state does not get updated unless I use componentWillReceiveProps. Is this working as expected?
Just in case I'm doing something silly, here is my reducer:
const initialState = {
breakfast: ["eggs", "bacon"]
}
export default function faqReducer(state = initialState, action) {
switch (action.type) {
case "ADD_FOOD":
return Object.assign({}, state, {
breakfast: [...state.breakfast, action.food]
})
default:
return state;
}
}
Here is my root reducer with my combineReducers() function:
import { combineReducers } from "redux";
import faq from './faqReducer'
export default combineReducers({
faq: faq
});
The problem is that you're copying data from props to state, but only doing that when the component is mounted, and then expecting the state to somehow be updated when new props arrive.
Copying data from props to state is almost always the wrong approach. Please don't do that. Just use the value from props.
Two additional suggestions for improving the code:
Prefer using the "object shorthand" form of mapDispatch, rather than writing it as a function
We recommend using our new official Redux Starter Kit package as the standard way to write your Redux logic. It includes utilities to simplify several common Redux use cases, including store setup, defining reducers, immutable update logic, and even creating entire "slices" of state at once.

Redux/React. You must pass a component to the function returned by connect. Instead received undefined

I see this topic You must pass a component to the function returned by connect. Instead received undefined, but it's does not about my case.
So, I cannot undurstand what is the wrong with my presentation/container connection?
I connect they one to each other, but I get an error: You must pass a component to the function returned by connect. Instead received undefined
/* COMPONENT */
import React from 'react';
import AddTodo from '../../Actions/AddTodo'
import TodoFormAdd from '../../Containers/TodoFormAdd'
class TodoForm extends React.Component{
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.handleSubmit = this.handleSubmit.bind(this);
}
handleSubmit(e) {
e.preventDefault();
document.querySelector('input').input.value = '';
TodoFormAdd(this.props.store, this.input.value);
}
render() {
return (
<form id="tp" onSubmit={this.handleSubmit}>
<input type="text" placeholder="Your text" />
<button type="submit">Add todos</button>
</form>
);
}
}
export default TodoForm;
/* CONTAINER */
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import TodoForm from '../Components/TodoForm/TodoForm'
import AddTodo from '../Actions/AddTodo'
let TodoFormAdd = (store, input) => store.dispatch(AddTodo(input));
export default connect(TodoFormAdd)(TodoForm);
Solved:
The problem had been in the closer of invoke these two codes in one time of running.
So the chain is the next:
We start the component TodoForm that also try to import TodoFormAdd;
TodoFormAdd does not already got the parameters to work and start begins to crash.
Then TodoForm cannot finish compilation themself and aslo crash.
And that it. So I just delete import TodoFormAdd in TodoForm and and everything became good.
Thank's for all for help!
import TodoForm from '../Components/TodoForm/TodoForm'.
1) Is TodoForm defined?, console.log it
2) Is TodoForm component? go through you file structure and see the file, is file exists? is component exists in this file?
From react-redux API Doc:
connect([mapStateToProps], [mapDispatchToProps], [mergeProps], [options])
connect(..) takes mapStateToProps function as its first argument, and your TodoFormAdd doesn't seem like a valid mapStateToProps, which should take the store state as its input, and return a plain object
The results of mapStateToProps must be a plain object which will a plain object, which will be merged into the component’s props
I recommend reading the redux doc and its examples multiple times, until you understand the concepts well.
I won't write the whole code for you, but in your case, TodoFormAdd seems redundant.
Just make TodoForm component a container (i.e. 'connected') component, and you get dispatch(..) for free passed through props!
It will look similar to this:
class TodoForm extends React.Component {
...
handleSubmit(e) {
const { dispatch } = this.props;
e.preventDefault();
document.querySelector('input').input.value = '';
dispatch(AddTodo(input));
}
...
}
function mapStateToProps(state) {
return {
// your mapStateToProps return object
};
}
export default connect(mapStateToProps)(TodoForm);

Dispatching an action from a Redux container without extending React.Component

I have a container component within my React and Redux application:
import { connect } from 'react-redux'
import MyComponent from '../components/mycomponent'
const mapStateToProps = state => ({
myData: state.myData[state.activeDataId]
})
export default connect(mapStateToProps)(MyComponent)
If state.myData[state.activeDataId] does not exist then I want to dispatch an action to fetchMyData or fetchMyDataIfNeeded.
Note that, at the moment, my container does not contain any JSX, it just forwards props to a presentational component. I have seen this being called a 'Pure Container' though I'm not sure if that's a common term.
Is there a common pattern to dispatch actions from a Pure Container? I am thinking without:
expecting the presentational component to worry about this logic by passing an onLoad event to it
making the container a React.Component and triggering via componentDidMount
Is it a bad idea to dispatch actions from mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps or mergeProps?
As noted elsewhere, doing this in the container is a bad idea.
Instead of worrying about this in the container, it makes sense to fetch the data conditionally in your component. I know you mentioned not wanting to extend react.component, but you should definitely consider making this component a class in order to fetch data in a component lifecycle hook.
As detailed in another answer, connect takes a second argument of mapDispatchToProps. Pass in the fetchData dispatcher there (example of how to do this here.)
Then, in your component you can check myData. If it is not there, then you dispatch via
this.props.whatYouCalledDispatch()
Yes, it is a bad idea to dispatch any action in container.
In your case, the best approach is:
Map your state, action creator to component props
Check the props in componentDidMount (or componentDidUpdate) and fetchDataYouNeed, then component will be updated
Your container should be:
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import {fetchDataYouNeed} from './actions
import MyComponent from '../components/mycomponent';
const mapStateToProps = state => ({
myData: state.myData[state.activeDataId]
});
const mapDispatchToProps = (dispatch) => {
return {
fetchDataYouNeed: ()=>{
dispatch(fetchDataYouNeed());
}
};
};
export default connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps)(MyComponent);
Your component
class YourComponent extends Component{
componentDidMount(){
let {myData, activeDataId} = this.props;
if(myData && !myData[activeDataId]){
this.props.fetchDataYouNeed();
}
}
render(){
....
}
}
Learn more here https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/react-component.html#componentdidmount
This seems to work, though I'm not sure if it has any unintended effects:
import { connect } from 'react-redux'
import MyComponent from '../components/mycomponent'
import { fetchMyData } from '../actions/mydata'
const mapStateToProps = state => ({
dataId: state.activeDataId,
myData: state.myData[state.activeDataId]
})
const mapDispatchToProps = { fetchMyData }
const mergeProps = (stateProps, dispatchProps) => {
if (!stateProps.myData) {
dispatchProps.fetchMyData(stateProps.dataId)
}
return stateProps
}
export default connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps, mergeProps)(MyComponent)
Alternatively, brianzinn suggested that by using Redux Saga to manage side effects, this issue becomes redundant.

React design pattern for fetching items

I have a number of React components that need to fetch certain items to display. The components could be functional components, except for a very simple componentDidMount callback. Is there a good design pattern that would allow me to return to functional components?
class Things extends React.Component {
componentDidMount() {
this.props.fetchThings()
}
render() {
things = this.props.things
...
}
}
I'm using react-redux and I'm also using connect to connect my component to my reducers and actions. Here's that file:
import { connect } from 'react-redux'
import Things from './things'
import { fetchThings } from '../../actions/thing_actions'
const mapStateToProps = ({ things }) => ({
things: things,
})
const mapDispatchToProps = () => ({
fetchThings: () => fetchThings()
})
export default connect(mapStateToProps, mapDispatchToProps)(Things)
Would it make sense to fetch the things in this file instead? Maybe something like this:
import { connect } from 'react-redux'
import Things from './things'
import { fetchThings } from '../../actions/thing_actions'
const mapStateToProps = ({ things }) => ({
things: things,
})
class ThingsContainer extends React.Component {
componentDidMount() {
fetchThings()
}
render() {
return (
<Things things={this.props.things} />
)
}
}
export default connect(mapStateToProps)(ThingsContainer)
Functional components are meant to be components that don't do anything. You just give them props and they render. In fact, if your component needs to fetch anything at all, it's likely your component should be transformed into a container which fetches the data you need. You can then abstract the UI part of your component into one or more pure functional components which your container renders by passing the data it got as props.
I believe the presentational/container component split is the pattern you're looking for here.

Wondering where to house api call logic. inside the Container or Component?

I have a container that passes props and an apiCall action to a component which will mainly just render the result of that call. My question is should I leave the invoking of that action up to the component or move it out into the container and just pass the array of items to the component?
Here is my container code. The fetchShowingsListShowings is the one in question. Also, I will be renaming that soon enough so bear with me.
import React, {PropTypes} from 'react';
import {connect} from 'react-redux';
import {bindActionCreators} from 'redux';
import * as actions from '../actions/showingsListActions';
import ShowingsList from '../components/ShowingsList';
const ShowingsListContainer = (props) => {
return (
<ShowingsList
isLoading={props.isLoading}
showings={props.showings}
fetchShowingsListShowings={props.actions.fetchShowingsListShowings}
/>
);
};
ShowingsListContainer.propTypes = {
isLoading: PropTypes.bool.isRequired,
showings: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
actions: PropTypes.object.isRequired
};
const mapStateToProps = (state) => {
return {
isLoading: state.showingsList.isLoading,
showings: state.showingsList.showings
};
};
const mapDispatchToProps = (dispatch) => {
return {
actions: bindActionCreators(actions, dispatch)
};
};
export default connect(
mapStateToProps,
mapDispatchToProps
)(ShowingsListContainer);
And my component. Which calls the API action on componentWillMount.
import React, { PropTypes } from 'react';
import ShowingsListItem from './ShowingsListItem';
class ShowingsList extends React.Component {
componentWillMount() {
this.props.fetchShowingsListShowings();
}
render() {
return (
this.props.isLoading ? <h1>Loading...</h1> :
<ul className="list-unstyled">
{this.props.showings.map((showing,index) => <ShowingsListItem showing={showing} key={'showing' + index}/>)}
</ul>
);
}
}
ShowingsList.propTypes = {
isLoading: PropTypes.bool.isRequired,
showings: PropTypes.array.isRequired,
fetchShowingsListShowings: PropTypes.func.isRequired
};
export default ShowingsList;
Thanks in advance.
So in React with Redux the term 'Container' just means a component that is connected to the Store, essentially whatever you use the react-redux 'connect' method with. Your ShowingsList can be a 'dumb' (or functional) component meaning it's just a component that takes in data and displays content. The general 'best' practice is to have your dumb components just be concerned with presentation, and your container components handle all the logic interacting with the Redux Store. If you follow this logic, fetch the data in the container, and pass the data to the nested component. That being said, it'll work either way so you don't really need to change anything if you're happy with it now.
To follow this pattern do something like this:
modify your Container component to be an ES6 class extends React.Component.. and optionally change your ShowingsList to be a functional component (like your ShowingsList is now)
put a componentWillMount in your Container and put the API call there.
pass the list to the presentational component.
Here's an article written by Dan Abramov, the author of Redux on this very topic.
https://medium.com/#dan_abramov/smart-and-dumb-components-7ca2f9a7c7d0#.g695y2gwd

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